Christian Ponder named his daughter after Bobby Bowden

Christian Ponder, the former Florida State star now with the Minnesota Vikings, recently had his first child, a baby girl named after his college coach Bobby Bowden.

Samantha Ponder, the ESPN college football reporter, delivered the couple’s baby girl earlier this month. They named her Bowden Sainte-Claire Ponder. The proud father arranged a surprise call with Bowden to reveal the honor, according to a story by ESPN.com’s Ben Goessling.

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

Bowden, now 84, coached Florida State for 34 seasons and led the school to two national championships. He was the head coach for most of Ponder’s college career before retiring after the quarterback’s junior season.

As Goessling writes, Bowden’s middle name — Sainte-Claire — is the same as her mother’s. The parents plan to call their baby girl “Scout,” after the young protagonist in To Kill A Mockingbird.

Samantha Ponder. (Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports)

It’s a lovely tribute to one of the most famous coaches in college football history. And thank goodness Christian didn’t decide to play his college ball at South Carolina. Spurrier would have been a terrible first name for a girl.

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